Primary to be held June 22

It's time for political hay and nothing denotes that better than primary elections like the one that will take place on June 22.

"We have taken care to be sure people aren't confused by not combining polling places for this election," said County Clerk Bob Pero. "In the past that has sometimes created problems for voters so we are trying to have things be as clear as possible."

This primary election is only for registered Republicans or those who want to register as a Republican. The polls will be closed to all others.

"The Republican party closed their primaries in the 2000 election and that same thing will be in effect in this election," stated Pero. "People need to know that if they are not a registered Republican they cannot vote in this election. They can however register as a Republican at the polls that day if they are presently unaffiliated and want to affiliate with that party."

Presently there are 1,621 registered Republicans in Carbon County.

The Republican primary that day will pit the two gubernatorial candidates (and their running mates) that came out of the Republican state convention last month, against each other. Jon M. Huntsman, Jr., with running mate Utah County Commissioner Gary Herbert will vie for the spot in the general election against Nolan E. Karras, and his partner Enid Greene, former Utah congresswoman.

Whoever wins that runoff will face Democrat Scott Matheson, Jr. in the general election.

The other race that will be decided is between two candidates for the right to run against Democrat Jim Matheson in the second congressional district of the state. Tim Bridgewater will go up against John Swallow for the chance to compete with Matheson for one of three congressional seats Utah has in the nations capitol.

Pero says that citizens can call 636-3201 to clarify their status if they don't know which party they are affiliated with.

He also said his office is now getting ready for the general election in November as well.

"In that planning process we are going to send out new voter identification cards to everyone who is registered in the county," he explained. "We want things to go smoothly in both elections."

Pero also pointed out that by the time the general election rolls around all polling places will be ADA compliant.

"We found that some of the polling places didn't meet the standard so that will be corrected," concluded Pero.